This is a far more urgent message for the UK. We mustn't get trapped in a downward spiral. University tutors are dismayed that so many young people aren't sufficiently prepared by schools to qualify for the most challenging courses. Businesses find that many aren't qualified for apprenticeships. That's because there are too few good teachers. Pupils in many secondary schools don't get exposed even to one. And less than a third of primary schools have even a single teacher with any scientific qualifications.

We need, too, to enliven what is taught. Newton, when young, made model windmills and clocks - the hi-tech artefacts of his time. Darwin collected fossils and beetles. The young Einstein was fascinated by the electric motors and dynamos in his father's factory. Fifty years ago inquisitive children could take apart a clock, radio set or motorbike, figure out how it worked, and even put it together again.